New Year’s Six Watch: Who makes the New Year’s Six if Cincy loses?

This week in the New Year’s Six Watch, would a Cincinnati loss upend the New Year’s Six?

Welcome back to the Watch. As the season winds down and draws closer to bowl season, the most wonderful time of the year, there is an interesting question to ponder. “What happens to the New Year’s Six if Cincinnati loses?”

There are several different ways to answer that question. First, it depends on when they lose. The old college football adage, “it’s better to lose early than late,” rings true in this situation. One loss by the Bearcats eliminates them from the College Football Playoff. Does it eliminate them from the New Year’s Six?

The simple answer is no; it would not. The Bearcats are fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings, with a new set of rankings coming November 16th. San Diego State, the next highest-ranked Group of Five team, is 22nd.

It would be quite a steep fall if the Bearcats lost one game and found themselves out of the New Year’s Six with the second highest-rated team 17 spots down. The Bearcats would have to lose twice to be eliminated from New Year’s Six consideration.

That said, they need to play better football against SMU and Houston (if they play Houston in the title game).

Here is the Watch for this week. Prepare. New Year’s is coming.